Best PlacesDaphne, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Daphne metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by JodyB, via wiki
Daphne ranks 232nd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 12 minutes away. Its strengths are low property taxes and a strong job market. The cost shows up in walkability, disaster risk, and empty homes.
The best neighborhoods in the Daphne metro
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Daphne
The towns and districts of the Daphne metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Fairhope
More adults hold degrees, heat risk is lower, and schools score higher.
Downtown Daphne
More households have young kids and tree cover is thicker.
Loxley, Robertsdale & Silverhill
Fewer homes sit empty, though local pay stretches less far.
Gulf Shores
Prices have run up more and incomes run lower.
Foley, Orange Beach & Elberta
Scores close to Gulf Shores, except that it is noisier here.
Bay Minette
Homes cost less, though health care is harder to reach.
Seminole
Advertised internet is slower and fewer residents vote.
Scores across Daphne run from about the 1st to the 88th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Daphne's strengths and weaknesses
Daphne lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low property taxes is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. A strong job market and quiet follow.
The one real hole is walkability, near the bottom of the country. Disaster risk and empty homes also cost it ground. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Daphne ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than 98% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than 94% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$619 a month, better than 90% of metro areas
Where Daphne ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 12% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Daphne
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Daphne home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,824, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Daphne's effective rate of 0.30%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Daphne
Daphne runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Daphne.
Who works in Daphne, and how
Work in Daphne centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Daphne
Daphne has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. The coast is about 12 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Daphne and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Daphne growing, and who is moving in?
Daphne has grown about 31% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Mobile, AL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Daphne go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Daphne, month by month
Daphne sees roughly 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 62, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62° | 51° | 42° |
| April | 77° | 66° | 56° |
| July | 89° | 80° | 74° |
| October | 81° | 69° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Daphne
The nearest airport, Mobile International, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 149 miles away.
The best schools in and around Daphne
Schools across Daphne average a B−, better than 57% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Fairhope West ElementaryA · 64% proficient
- Fairhope East ElementaryA · 62% proficient
- Rockwell Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- Spanish Fort Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- W J Carroll Intermediate SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Daphne Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Spanish Fort High SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Fairhope High SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Baldwin County Virtual SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Daphne school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Daphne measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Daphne against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Daphne suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 78% of metro areas, health care access beats 92%, and it is quieter than 94%.
Common questions about living in Daphne
Is Daphne a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Daphne ranks 232nd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low property taxes, a strong job market, and quiet, and lowest on walkability and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Daphne expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $332,953. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $81,824 median income, cost of living beats 68% of metro areas.
Is Daphne safe?
Yes, Daphne is safer than 73% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $272 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Daphne?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 62 with lows near 42. That works out to about 128 pleasant days a year, more than 78% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Daphne?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Fairhope, Downtown Daphne, and Loxley, Robertsdale & Silverhill. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Daphne good for families?
Schools beat 57% of metro areas, crime safety beats 73%, and childcare runs $619 a month.
Is Daphne good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 68% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 78% of metro areas. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Daphne with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Daphne. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Daphne represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Daphne detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Daphne: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Daphne: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Daphne: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Daphne: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Daphne detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.